Category Archives: Conservation

Giving £2 a day to people in the Amazon helps protect rainforest, pilot project finds

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Researchers say almost 90% of participants in unconditional basic income scheme in Peru adopted environmentally beneficial practices

A pioneering project to provide Indigenous people in the Peruvian Amazon with an unconditional basic income has contributed to the protection of the rainforest, according to a study.

The analysis from the University of Bath is expected to contribute to a growing debate about the role of direct payments to communities that maintain globally important ecosystems.

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Brazilian Amazon deforestation falls to lowest on record as pivotal vote looms

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Forest clearance at smallest total since records began in 1988 in success for Lula ahead of presidential run-off

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has fallen to its lowest level since records began, new government data shows.

But whether this globally important success is maintained or reversed is on a knife edge ahead of a presidential election run-off on 25 October between two candidates with sharply different visions for the future of the rainforest and how that affects relations with the US under Donald Trump.

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Rescued turtles return home after NSW government cut flows to wetland

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Environmental water to the area was halted after a complaint from a private landholder, leading to the deaths of wildlife and sheep

Freshwater turtles rescued from a dried-up water hole in western New South Wales after the state government cut environmental water to the area are being returned home.

Late last month, 10 broad-shelled turtles and three Murray River turtles were released back into the Gingham water hole in the state’s Gwydir region.

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Flávio Bolsonaro’s advance in Brazil’s election is grim jolt for climate campaigners

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Inquest under way into why President Lula’s success in curbing Amazon deforestation has not led to success at polls

More fire, more ash, more crime, more death. And a globally important ecosystem driven ever more rapidly towards a point of no return. That is the prospect for the Amazon rainforest for at least the next four years if Flávio Bolsonaro holds on to the lead he established this week in the first round of Brazil’s presidential election.

This appears to be of far more concern to the outside world than to voters in Latin America’s biggest, richest and most biodiverse nation.

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Swing-and-a-miss: MLB rescinds idea to host baseball game in national park after backlash

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Officials in Wyoming had called notion to host game in Grand Teton national park ‘deeply unwelcome’

Major League Baseball (MLB) leadership is no longer considering holding a game inside a national park, according to a letter commissioner Robert Manfred sent to officials in Teton county, Wyoming, on Thursday in what could be the league’s biggest swing-and-a-miss off the diamond.

On 26 September, the Washington Post reported that MLB had reached out to the White House about staging a one-day game at Grand Teton national park in Wyoming. Teton county describes itself as a “a year-round resort community” and sits within the Jackson Hole valley. It’s also a habitat for grizzly bears, osprey, bison and more.

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Falling glass and ‘decapitated’ plants: the race to protect Edinburgh botanic garden’s plants

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After five years of work, 5,750 panels of toughened glass will help keep hundred of plants safe from Scottish winters – but more work needs to be done

In the early autumn sunlight, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh’s extensive plant collection appears safe in their glass enclosures. But danger lurks from above for the tropical ferns, cycads and rare alpine heathers.

Soon the September sunshine will give way to the storms and gales of the Scottish winter, which can bring hundreds of glass panels crashing to the greenhouse floor on the windiest days. Nobody is allowed inside when the wind is above 30mph.

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Insects play critical role in ecosystems beyond just providing food, new research shows

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Insects provide protection, sanitation and even shelter to vertebrates, making them a priority for conservation efforts

For many vertebrates, insects are more than a food source. As “little things that run the world”, insects provide critical functions such as protection, sanitation and shelter across ecosystems, according to a new study.

The study, published in Nature Reviews Biodiversity on Wednesday, sheds light on the various ways insects support vertebrates, ranging from birds and bats to reptiles, amphibians and mammals.

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‘It’s hard to sell a house when it’s covered in baboon faeces’: Cape Town divided over plan to remove its monkeys

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Two troops of chacma baboons are breaking into homes and shops but animal rights activists insist coexistence is the answer

Cape Town’s city council has said it will “imminently” round up two baboon troops coming into repeated conflict with residents. The animals will be sterilised and permanently moved to a newly constructed sanctuary. The plan has been fiercely criticised by animal rights activists, who say the monkeys should remain roaming freely, and that less destructive options have not been properly considered.

Cape Town’s baboon problem has been brewing since the 2000s, after the city stopped culling troops in the late 1990s after pressure from the public. But in the past two years it has reached boiling point. A 2025 census found that the population had grown by a third since 2000, from 360 baboons to 493, now living in 12 managed troops.

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Rick Wakeman performs piano concert to 150 rescued moon bears in Vietnam

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Former Yes musician plays at sanctuary to raise awareness of animals that remain stuck in cages at ‘bile farms’

Rick Wakeman has played to all kinds of people around the globe, but he has now performed to an audience he had never encountered before – an enclosure of 150 bears.

The former Yes musician, who has gone on to have a prolific solo career, played the piano at a Vietnamese bear sanctuary.

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‘Cash to trash’ levy on house developers too low to offset damage to Norfolk Broads, say critics

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Exclusive: Levy that allows almost 16,000 houses to be built on Norfolk Broads will not cover cost of mitigating environmental damage, critics say

A new levy on developers to allow almost 16,000 homes to be built in the environmentally protected Norfolk Broads has been cut by tens of thousands of pounds per house, the Guardian can reveal.

Ministers say the government’s environmental delivery plans (EDPs) were created to unblock housing growth across the country and are a “win-win” for development and nature.

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New cat species identified for first time in more than a century in Bolivia

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New species of wild feline was discovered in Bolivia’s Yungas forest that is smaller than the average domestic ⁠cat

A diminutive wild cat that inhabits Bolivia’s ⁠cloud forest has been identified as a previously unknown species, marking the first time a new living feline species has been formally named and described in more than a century.

The cat, called tilcayo by local communities, is part of a group called tiger ⁠cats found across much of South ⁠America. It was found in Bolivia’s ​lush Yungas forest, a mountainous region where forests are often covered by clouds and surrounded by high humidity, according to researchers. It measures about 18in (46cm) long and weighs about 3lb (1.4kg), making it smaller than the average domestic ⁠cat.

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Indonesian wildfires threaten leading orangutan research site in Borneo

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Critically endangered Bornean orangutans flee forests as staff at Cabang Panti work round the clock to stave off blaze

Wildfires in Indonesia are sweeping through a critical research site for Bornean orangutans and are now threatening a celebrated research camp, home to one of the world’s longest-running studies of wild apes.

In the past few days, the fires have burned within 200 metres of Rangkong research station, a satellite of Cabang Panti research station, which lies about four miles north in Gunung Palung national park.

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Indonesian wildfires threaten leading orangutan research site in Borneo

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Critically endangered Bornean orangutans flee forests as staff at Cabang Panti work round the clock to stave off blaze

Wildfires in Indonesia are sweeping through a critical research site for Bornean orangutans and are now threatening a celebrated research camp, home to one of the world’s longest-running studies of wild apes.

In the past few days, the fires have burned within 200 metres of Rangkong research station, a satellite of Cabang Panti research station, which lies about four miles north in Gunung Palung national park.

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Scientists find nine new sponge species in glimpse of Alaska’s deep-sea diversity

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But their habitat is threatened by bottom trawling in the region and Trump’s plan to expand seafloor mining

Scientists have discovered nine new deep-sea sponge species off Alaska, offering new insights into the region’s largely unexplored marine biodiversity.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) announced the discovery on Thursday, saying the species were found in the Gulf of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands. The findings bring the total number of known sponge species in Alaska to 232.

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Victoria’s koalas in chronically poor health and population is half what was previously estimated

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Exclusive: State government delayed releasing major report into the health of the koala population for more than 12 months

The Victorian government sat on a report for more than 12 months that found the state’s koala population was in chronically poor health.

The review of the state’s koala populations, led by state science agency the Arthur Rylah Institute in conjunction with scientists from major universities, was completed for the Victorian government in June 2025.

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‘Nature thrives when given a chance’: restored Cheshire wetland now a haven for rare grebe

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Woolston Eyes in Warrington, a dumping ground for canal dredgings, has become best place in UK for black-necked grebe

A dumping ground for dredgings from the Manchester Ship Canal has become the best place in Britain for the rare and beautiful black-necked grebe, hosting 64% of Britain’s breeding population.

Since 2021, Woolston Eyes in Cheshire has been restored, extended and turned into a mosaic of freshwater pools, reedbeds, willow scrub and rough grassland, managed by the RSPB and Woolston Eyes Conservation Group.

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South African police arrest two Thai men for allegedly smuggling parrot eggs

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Bird eggs intercepted in homemade incubators at Johannesburg airport as officials try to halt wildlife trafficking

South African police have arrested two Thai nationals in separate incidents for allegedly attempting to smuggle endangered parrot eggs out of the country as authorities try to stem the tide of wildlife trafficking.

A 50-year-old Thai national was arrested at OR Tambo international airport in Johannesburg on 20 August, carrying 50 bird eggs in a homemade incubator in a hand-luggage bag, South Africa’s environment ministry said in a statement.

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Call to ban marmot hunting in France as campaigners say they are ‘killed for fun’

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Protests and petitions planned amid growing concerns over impact of climate crisis on numbers of Alpine rodent

Animal rights campaigners are gearing up for protests and petitions aimed at persuading the French government to ban the hunting of Alpine marmots.

Open season on the rodents, members of the squirrel and groundhog family, begins in September, a few weeks before they go into a long winter hibernation.

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First Australian death of little penguin with H5 bird flu confirmed on Phillip Island

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Authorities confirm first Australian death of species found with virus near where it attracts crowds to a ‘penguin parade’

Australia’s first case of the deadly H5 bird flu in a little penguin has been confirmed on Victoria’s Phillip Island, only days after the state government announced it would begin vaccinating the species.

Confirmation of the virus in the little penguin will spark a race to vaccinate thousands of birds, with the government announcing on Saturday it would begin the rollout on Monday.

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Indonesia wildfires threaten orangutans rescued from animal traffickers

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Blaze fuelled by hot, dry and windy conditions comes within metres of West Kalimantan rehabilitation centre

Orangutans rescued from wildlife traffickers face a new threat from the record number of fires that have broken out in Indonesia in recent weeks.

Flames have come within metres of an animal rehabilitation centre in West Kalimantan as hot, dry and windy conditions have been amplified by a powerful El Niño and the human-driven climate crisis.

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